Vaccine probably didn't help Powell since he had a white blood cell cancer.

The anti-vaxxers are licking their chops over the death of Colin Powell since he had the Covid vaccine.

What they are conveniently leaving out is that Mr. Powell suffered from multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer. The vaccine probably did him little good because he simply lacked the ability to produce antibodies. He was a sitting duck for the virus. Nature magazine reports

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Unfortunately, the same mechanisms that impede MM patients’ ability to fend off infections also reduce their capability to generate immunity from vaccination, as demonstrated by their diminished responses to vaccines for multiple respiratory illnesses [4]. They develop more frequent infections, and it is a leading cause of death [5]. Factors known to play a role in their higher risk of infection include impaired renal function, low uninvolved immunoglobulin (Ig) levels, diminished T-cell responses, reduced neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, immunosuppressive treatments including frequent use of corticosteroids, and disease status [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. While MM patients were targeted early for COVID-19 vaccination, the efficacy of this intervention is unknown....

Overall, 55% of MM patients failed to fully respond to COVID-19 vaccination. Low baseline IgM levels were most predictive of incomplete responses to the vaccines, while vaccination with mRNA-1273 resulted in higher anti-spike antibody levels than BNT162b2 in this population. Based on these data, myeloma patients may need to continue social distancing following COVID-19 vaccination, and postvaccine spike IgG levels may help guide decisions regarding future revaccination strategies and/or antibody prophylaxis for this vulnerable population.

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